What s New in Cut2D 1.5 A quick start guide for Cut2D upgraders Vectric Ltd. Document V.1.0
Table of Contents Overview... 3 New Features in Cut2D 1.5... 4 Draw Polyline... 4 Single Line Font Support... 5 Text In A Box - Auto Layout Text... 6 Entering Text... 6 Engraving Fonts... 6 Edit Text... 9 Interactive Text Spacing and Curving... 10 Interactive Letter kerning and Line Spacing... 10 Letter Kerning... 10 Line Spacing... 10 Text Arcing... 10 Convert text to Curves... 11 Integrated Windows Explorer Thumbnail Support... 13 Weld Vectors... 14 The Tool Database... 15 Quick Engraving Toolpath... 20 Calculation Edit Boxes... 23 Special Calculation Characters... 23 Miscellaneous Improvements in Cut2D 1.5... 24 Profiling Left / Right for open vectors... 24 Improved Font Previews... 24 Saving PNG images of your 3D View... 25 Draw Material Block... 25 Resizable Toolpath List... 25 DXF/DWG Import... 26 Faster start-up time... 26 Comments in Toolpath Output... 26 Simplified Join / Close... 26 Copyright 2011 Vectric Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Page 2
Overview This What s New document is intended forusers who are already familiar with Cut2D and just want to check out the new features, which are highlighted here. This document is structured as follows: o o New Features Enhancements If you are completely new to Cut2D, this probably isn t the right document for you. Instead you should refer to the Cut2D Reference Manual and help file for a full overview of Cut2D s capabilities and a comprehensive explanation of each tool and feature of the software. Copyright 2011 Vectric Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Page 3
New Features in Cut2D 1.5 Draw Polyline This tool creates continuous straight lines through points clicked or entered coordinates. Move the cursor to the point where a point is required and click the left mouse button to create a new line. Or enter the appropriate XY position, distance or angle. Click the Add button to enter a new point. The Undo button deletes the last point entered and allows a new point to be added. The Finish button completes drawing the current line and leaves the form open to allow additional lines to be drawn. Notes The X Y position uses absolute coordinates. The Angle, Length and dx / dy positions are incremental from the current position. Placing the cursor close to the first point on the polyline will snap the polyline closed. Pressing the Space bar finishes the current polyline and keeps the Draw line mode active so additional lines can be drawn. Clicking the Right mouse button or pressing the Esc key finishes the operation Select the Node editing tool to modify the shape of a polyline and use the Right Hand mouse form option Properties to specify the exact position of a node. Copyright 2011 Vectric Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Page 4
Single Line Font Support Cut2D 1.5 includes support for using Vectric s Single Line fonts as well as the standard True Type fonts included on your computer. Normal True Type fonts consist of a series of closed vectors to define the shape of each character. A letter O for instance, is built from two circular vectors, one for the outside of the letter and one for the inside. In a Single Line font, the O would usually consist of a single circular vector describing the center line of the letter. These Single Line (or Engraving) fonts can usually be machined much more quickly than a True Type font but there are far fewer fonts available. The image below shows an example of a single line font. The single line fonts can be selected from the text entry forms using the Single Line option on the forms as shown below. Single line fonts can only be machined with either the Create Profile toolpath with the Machine Vectors On option or using the Quick Engrave toolpath. Copyright 2011 Vectric Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Page 5
Text In A Box - Auto Layout Text This option automatically sizes a block of text to fit inside the bounding box (width and height limits) of a selected vector or vectors. If no vectors are selected the text is scaled to fit the size of the material. When the Text form is open, the dimensions for the Width and Height of the selected vectors or job dimensions are shown, and these are used to constrain the font size of the text. Entering Text The procedure for drawing text in the 2D Window is: Select the vector inside which the text is to be fitted Click the Draw Text icon Enter the required text content Select the font, either True Type or Single Line as required and alignment options Click Apply Engraving Fonts Engraving (single line) Fonts that are very quick to engrave are also available by selecting the Single Line option for the font type. The available fonts are then displayed in the list. Copyright 2011 Vectric Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Page 6
Note: If no vector(s) are selected to define the bounding box, the text is sized to the material and positioned centrally Larger Edit The Larger Edit button opens a larger text entry window that makes it easier to enter text that needs to run on longer line lengths. Clicking OK accepts any text entered into the window and Cancel will throw away any changes. Text Alignment Positions text relative to the selected bounding box or material size with options for left, center and right aligned. Bounding Box Dimensions These the actual size of the box into which the text will be fitted. If the text is scaled interactively (by left clicking twice on the text) or precisely using the scale tool, the new bounding box is updated and displayed as a light gray rectangle. Margin Size The distance between the text and the bounding box where: None Scales text to fit the rectangle width or height of the bounding box Normal Scales text to fit within 80% of the bounding leaving a 10% border to the left and right. Wide Reduces the size to 60% of the rectangle width leaving a 20% border to the left and right. None Normal Wide Note: The font size is automatically scaled to give the selected margin size. Vertical and Horizontal Stretch Allow the text to be stretched to fit inside the bounding box by changing the line or letter spacing, or stretching the character height or width. Copyright 2011 Vectric Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Page 7
Note: The Auto Scaling functionality calculates the maximum text size that can be fitted into the selected bounding box. The result will depend on the aspect ratio of the bounding box and either the width or height of this box will determine the size of the text. Only one of these stretching options will be applicable at any one time. The example below shows how text is being constrained by the width of the bounding box, not the height. When the text size is limited by the width of the bounding box it's then possible to stretch the Vertical height of the text block as shown below. No Vertical Stretch with the text being constrained by the width of the box Stretch Line Space to fit Stretch Characters to fit The next example shows text aligned to the Center and being constrained by the height of the bounding box. So in this case the Horizontal Stretch options are applicable. No Horizontal Stretch with the text being limited by the height of the box Stretch Spaces between words Stretch letter Kerning (spacing between letters) Stretch Character size Copyright 2011 Vectric Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Page 8
Edit Text To edit text properties or content Click the Left mouse to select the appropriate text object Click the Draw Text icon The Text Editing form is displayed in the Drawing Tab, where the content and properties can be modified as required. Click the Apply button to update the changes in the 2D View. Click the Cancel button to finish or cancel the editing and close the form. Copyright 2011 Vectric Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Page 9
Interactive Text Spacing and Curving Character and Line spacing can be edited interactively using the Edit Text Cursor. Interactive Letter kerning and Line Spacing Select the cursor and click to select the Text to be edited. The text will be displayed as Magenta lines with 2 Green handles in the middle, as shown below, Letter Kerning The interactive kerning and line spacing cursor is shown when placed between letters or lines: The interactive letter kerning allows default text to be modified so that adjacent pairs of letters sit more naturally together. A typical example is shown above where the capital letters W A V are placed next to each other and the default space is excessive. Place the cursor between 2 letters and click the Left mouse button to close the gap. Holding the Shift key and clicking the Left mouse button moves the characters apart. Holding the Ctrl key when kerning doubles the distance each letter moves on each click Holding the Shift & Ctrl keys together and clicking the Left mouse moves the letters closer together in larger increments. Line Spacing Line spacing can be modified by placing the Edit Text cursor between lines. It will change to the line spacing cursor: Clicking Left mouse button will move the adjacent lines of text closer together - Default mode Holding the Shift key and clicking the Left mouse button will move the lines apart Holding the Ctrl key doubles the distance each line moves on each mouse click. Text Arcing The interactive rotation and movement cursor is displayed when the cursor is placed over either of the Green Handle to indicate that the text can be arced either Upwards or Downwards: Bend Text Upwards Bend Text Downwards Copyright 2011 Vectric Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Page 10
Click & Drag the Bottom Green box to arc the text Downwards Click & Drag the Top Green box to arc the text Upwards The text can easily be dragged back into the horizontal position using the green boxes After arcing text additional Red and Blue handles are displayed for Rotating and Moving the text. Clicking and dragging the Red boxes rotates the text around the center point of the arc. Holding the Ctrl key forces the rotation to be in 15 degree increments. This allows the text to be positioned exactly on the horizontal or vertical quadrants, even after it may have been moved slightly. Clicking and dragging the Blue boxes moves the text vertically and changes the radius onto which the text is mapped as shown below. Convert text to Curves In most cases all Text created in Cut2D can be Engraved, Pocketed and Profile machined. Some fonts do occasionally include loops and problems that need fixing using the Node Editing or Weld tools before it can be utilized for other functions. This text first has to be converted to Curves, creating lines, arcs and Bezier spans that can be interactively edited to fix the problem areas. Copyright 2011 Vectric Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Page 11
If the individual characters contain overlapping vectors or loops these will need fixing manually using the Node editing or Weld tools. When Profile Machining with Tabs is required the text must first be converted to curves. Opening the Tab form on the Profile machining form will show a message stating that the text must first be converted to curves and clicking the Yes button will automatically make the conversion. Text can be converted to curves at any time by clicking the Right mouse button and selecting Convert Text to Curves. Note: After converting text to curves it cannot be edited as a text block. Copyright 2011 Vectric Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Page 12
Integrated Windows Explorer Thumbnail Support From Cut2D 1.5 onwards, CRV files automatically include thumbnails when they are saved. Windows Explorer can make use of these thumbnails to show you a preview of each file when you browse a folder. When browsing a folder of CRV files in Windows 7, select Medium Icons or larger from the available options in the Change your view control, located at the top of the Windows Explorer view. Thumbnails are supported for Windows XP and later, but the method of selecting thumbnail view in Windows Explorer described above is specifically for Windows 7 and will differ slightly for other Windows versions. Drag & Drop If no file is currently open, Cut2D supports Windows drag and drop functionality to open a file directly from Windows Explorer. Simply click and drag the thumbnail of the file you wish to open from the Explorer Window into Cut2D s window. Note: You will only see thumbnails for CRV files saved from Cut2D version 1.5 or later. If you are only able to see the default Cut2D file thumbnail, you should open and re-save the file using the normal File>Open and File>Save commands in the latest version of Cut2D. Copyright 2011 Vectric Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Page 13
Weld Vectors Selected vectors that overlap can be merged together to create a new shape. This command welds overlapping vectors together to create a new shape which follows the outermost edge of all the selected shapes. Copyright 2011 Vectric Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Page 14
The Tool Database The Tool Database is used to make cutter management and selection very quick and easy, and reduces the possibility of programming jobs with incorrect cut depths and speeds and feeds. For Cut2D 1.5 there has been a major overhaul to allow the user to manage their tools more easily. The Tool Database is accessed from the Select... button every time you create a new toolpath and allows pre-defined tools and settings (speeds, feeds, stepover etc.) to be selected from a list. NOTE: Changing values for a tool in the tool database will NOT change the values for tools already selected in a toolpath, even if you recalculate that toolpath. To pick up any new values you must reselect the tool from the tool database. New tools can be added, copied from existing tools, deleted and organized. All of the cutting parameters are stored in the database. Opening the tool database To access the Tool Database you can click on the Database icon on the Toolpaths tab or alternatively, select Toolpaths Tool Database from the main menu bar. A window similar to that shown below will appear displaying a list of the tools that are currently defined on the left and the parameters for the currently selected tool from the list over on the right. Below this image is a list of all the actions that can be executed from this dialog: Copyright 2011 Vectric Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Page 15
Tool List The Tool List is located on the left-hand side of the Tool Database. Click on items in the list to see or edit their properties using the Tool Info section of the database window. The Toolpath list is arranged hierarchically to allow you to organize your tools according to common properties or use. You can click and hold down the left mouse button to drag items up or down in the list. If you drag them into a tool group, they will be placed inside the group. Tooltip of group hierarchy When a tool is selected within a toolpath strategy page, the tool name does not always provide enough information for you to know whether the tool s settings are appropriate. It is always possible to click Edit and see the full set of the tool s properties & settings. However, if you hover your mouse over the tool s name, a tooltip will pop-up telling you what the location of this tool was in the tool group hierarchy when it was added to the toolpath strategy. This can be extremely useful for quickly distinguishing between tools in your database that have similar names, but have been grouped according to their properties. Adding a New Tool Selecting New creates an empty tool in the list that can have any user definable name. Copying a New Tool Copy adds a duplicate of the selected tool to the list and prefixes the original name with (1). Edit the Name and properties for the new tool and click the Apply button to save the changes to the list. Deleting a Tool Deletes the selected tool from the database. Note: Take care when deleting tools as this operation cannot be undone. Creating a new tool group Click on the add New Group button then give your new group a name and press Apply to add it to the database. Click and drag tools from the database over the top of the newly created group icon in the tool database tree to add them to the group. Alternatively, select the group and then click the New button to create a new tool directly within the selected group. Importing and Exporting tools Individual tools or complete tool group hierarchies can now be saved to disk using the Export button. Similarly, you can now import previously saved tools, groups or even entire tool databases using the Import button. Copyright 2011 Vectric Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Page 16
Note: Cut2D 1.5 will import database files from Cut2D 1.1, so you can easily add any previously defined tools to your new database. Please note, however, that you will not be able to open the new Cut2D 1.5 database files in earlier versions. Tool Info When a tool or group is selected in the Tool List, its properties are displayed in the Tool Info section on the right-hand side of the Tool Database. Here you can modify any of the properties of the currently selected Tool or Group. Click the Apply button to save the changes to the Tool List. Note: If you modify the Tool database, your changes will only be saved if you click OK. If you exit the Tool Database window using the Cancel button, any changes you have made since opening the Database will be discarded. Name Use this field to enter a suitable name to describe your cutters. Tool Type The following types of cutters can be specified in the database. V-Bit Engraving Radiused Engraving Note: When specifying the geometry for a tool, the angle specified is different for V-Bit and Engraving Tools. V-Bit Tools are defined using an Included Angle (A) Engraving Tools are defined using the Half Angle (A) and the Flat Diameter (F) Copyright 2011 Vectric Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Page 17
Ball Nose End Mill Radiused End Mill Diamond Drag Drills Notes The tool notes section simply allows you to save any additional text descriptions, special instructions or relevant information you may require, within your tool definition. Geometry Diameter The diameter of the tool in either inches or mm. The tool image will indicate where this dimension is taken from. Cutting Parameters Pass Depth The maximum depth of cut the tool can cut. The Pass Depth controls the number of z level passes that are calculated for a toolpath. For example, creating a pocket 1" (25.4 mm) deep using a tool that has a Pass Depth of 0.25" (6.35 mm) will result in the toolpath making 4 passes. Stepover The distance the cutter moves over when doing area clearance cutting. For example, when raster machining the cutter will machine along the X axis, stepover in the Y direction and return parallel to the first line of cut. The greater the stepover the faster the job will be Copyright 2011 Vectric Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Page 18
machined, but this must be balanced with the material being cut and the tooling being used, to ensure that the tool does not break. Feeds and Speed Spindle Speed Speed of tool rotation, specified in revolutions per minute Feedrate The surface cutting rate at which the cutter is moved in the material. The units can be specified in distance per second or minute. Plunge Rate The cutting rate at which the cutter is moved vertically into the material or during ramping moves. The units can be specified in distance per second or per minute. Note: The Feedrate and Plunge rate you should use will vary depending upon the material being machined and the tooling being used. Tool Number This is the number of the tool needed to machine the job. When using a CNC machine with an Automatic Tool Changer (ATC), it is critical that the correct tool required to cut the job is located in the corresponding carousel location. Copyright 2011 Vectric Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Page 19
Quick Engraving Toolpath This form is used specifically for calculating engraving and marking toolpaths. Tool Clicking the Select button opens the Tool Database from which the required tool can be selected. See the section on the Tool Database for more information on this. Clicking the Edit button opens the Edit Tool form which allows the cutting parameters for the selected tool to be modified, without changing the master information in the database. Depth / Pressure When using Conventional Engraving and End Mill cutters the Depth to engrave / mark is specified and this z depth dimension is output in the toolpath file sent to the CNC machine. The 3D Preview of these toolpaths shows the specified depth of engraving. When using a Diamond Drag marking Tool the Pressure setting is used to pre-load the spring to ensure the tip of the diamond stays in contact with the material surface, especially when marking uneven surfaces. The 3D Preview of the depth these toolpaths will mark using the Angle of the diamond and the Width of the Line. For example; When using a 90 degree Diamond Drag Tool with a 0.010" Line Width specified. The depth shown in the 3D preview will be 0.005" (with 90 degrees the depth = half the line width). Copyright 2011 Vectric Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Page 20
The ratio of Depth to Line Width will change when using diamond drag tools with different tip angles. When the option to use a Nose Cone is selected (see below) the actual depth specified on the form is used when previewing the toolpath in the 3D view. Strategy When using the Quick Engraving Form the Stepover for the cutter is specified on the form and is NOT automatically set from the tool database. The selected text or vectors can be Outlined or Filled. Outline The tip of the cutter runs on the selected lines engraving / marking the material surface Example of outline engraving Fill A pattern is used to engrave / mark inside the selected text or vectors. There are 3 fill pattern options. Copyright 2011 Vectric Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Page 21
Fill engraving with Offset pattern Fill engraving with 45 degree Hatch pattern Fill engraving with Cross Hatch pattern Cross Hatch Fill pattern engraves 2 sets of lines, with the second set at 90 degrees to the angle specified. Use Nose Cone A nose cone is often used when engraving or marking material that is not flat. The nose cone is spring loaded forcing it to slide on the surface of the material. The engraving cutter is set to extend / protrude out of the bottom of the nose cone by the depth of engraving / marking required. This is typically set at around 0.010" to 0.020". When the option to use a Nose Cone is selected the actual depth specified on this region of form is used when previewing the toolpath in the 3D view. Number of Passes - This option runs the cutter multiple times divides over the toolpath pattern. Output Options Select the appropriate postprocessor and Save the Toolpath ready to send to the CNC machine. If your machine can be driven using a Windows Printer driver (Roland and Gravograph / New Hermes machines use this technique) it maybe be possible to select the installed printer driver and output toolpaths directly from the software instead of saving an intermediate file. Checking the option Output direct to machine enables the Device option which is used to setup the appropriate windows printer driver. Copyright 2011 Vectric Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Page 22
Calculation Edit Boxes Where appropriate, numerical edit boxes on all of Cut2D s forms support simple calculations. Instead of working out a value from a calculation, a sum can be entered directly into the edit box. When the = character is entered, Cut2D will perform the entered calculation and fill the edit box with the answer. Special Calculation Characters As well as the simple numerical calculations, Cut2D also supports several special characters to simplify common measurements. These characters are not case-sensitive. When used, Cut2D substitutes the character with the appropriate value in the calculation. The following table summarizes the currently supported characters: Character Name Example Description W or X Material Width w/2= Half of the material width H or Y Material Height H*2= Twice the height of the material T or Z Material Thickness t-0.25= 0.25 units less than the material thickness P Pi (3.1415 ) P*10^2= Circumference of a 10 radius circle (πr 2 ) I Inch Conversion 25.4*I= Converts 25.4mm to inches M Mm Conversion 2*M= Converts 2 to mm s Feet 2 +10= 2 feet & 10 inches (34 ) Copyright 2011 Vectric Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Page 23
Miscellaneous Improvements in Cut2D 1.5 Profiling Left / Right for open vectors When a profile toolpath is created, you can now machine to the right / left of open vectors as shown below. The Left / Right direction is determined by imagining that you are walking along the open vector from its start point towards its end point. You can identify the start point of a vector by going into node editing mode (pressing N on the keyboard). When you select a vector in node editing mode the start node is drawn in green as shown below. To move the start point to the opposite end, right click on the node at the opposite end of the shape as shown below select Make Start Point from the menu to move the start point to the selected end. You can also just place the cursor over the node you want to be the start point and press P on the keyboard. Improved Font Previews When browsing the installed fonts in the Create Text tool, Cut2D shows a small preview sample of text using each font. The set of characters in the preview now includes some numbers, which can often be valuable in aiding font selection for some projects. Copyright 2011 Vectric Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Page 24
Saving PNG images of your 3D View It is often useful for advertising or customer approval to be able to capture an image of your 3D simulation. When using View>Save Shaded Image, a new file type option has been added in Cut2D 1.5 enabling you to save PNG files. The PNG file format has the unique benefit of supporting background transparency so that your image can be cut and pasted into other images or documents without including the 3D View background. To enable this feature, the View - Use Shaded Background option must be switched off. PNG Saved with Use Shaded Background on PNG Saved with Use Shaded Background off Draw Material Block The option to draw the material block as a wireframe has been added with the View - Draw Material Block option. This is often useful when visualizing the position of toolpaths, particularly if the View - Color Shaded View option is de-selected so that you can see the toolpaths without perspective being applied and View - Draw Origin is used to draw the 0,0,0 point for the toolpaths. Resizable Toolpath List The toolpath list can now be resized by clicking on the divider below the Show 2D previews option and dragging. Copyright 2011 Vectric Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Page 25
DXF/DWG Import The DXF/DWG import filter has been updated to match the version used with Aspire and VCarve Pro. Faster start-up time Cut2D 1.5 takes advantage of multi-threaded processing to significantly reduce the time it to start Cut2D and start working. Comments in Toolpath Output There have been many changes to the post-processor support to allow information on tools, jobsize, origin etc to be output to the post-processed file. For more details and information on how to modify your post-processors, please see the Guide to editing a Vectric Post Processor which can be accessed from the Help - Post Processor Editing Guide menu option from the main menu bar. Simplified Join / Close The separate Join / Close icons in 1.1 have been replaced with single icons for 1.5 clicking Join/Close with 2 vectors selected will join them, pressing it with a single vector will close it. Snapping to End Points and Mid Points When drawing lines / circles / rectangles etc, by default the cursor will snap to other end points and mid points. If you do not want this snapping behavior, hold down the shift key while drawing. Copyright 2011 Vectric Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Page 26